Walk this way

Abstract

Sexual aggression is a serious problem in our society generally and on our college campuses specifically. This dissertation examined perceived vulnerability as a risk factor for sexual victimization in college women and tested the impact of gait movement on perceptions of vulnerability. A sample of college women (N = 157) were recorded from behind while walking in a public area, and these participants completed self-report measures of sexual victimization, assertiveness, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Trained members of the research team coded participant’s gait (i.e., stride length, weight shifts, body movement, foot movement, and type of walk). A second sample of college men (N = 258) provided ratings of perceived vulnerability to sexual assault and completed self-report measures of psychopathy and sexual assault perpetration. Women who had reportedly experienced a past sexual assault were rated as more vulnerable and coded as walking in an uncoordinated manner (i.e., stride that was too long or too short for their height, unilateral movement, nonlateral weight shifts, gestural movements, lifting feet too high). Men who reported a history of sexual assault perpetration and men who scored higher on psychopathy were more accurate in their ratings of vulnerability.